Whenever I read about organisation’s chasing the latest trends in change management and lean techniques I think back to a time when these terms were not a part of our business vocabulary - a time without computers, social media etc and only 4 channels on the TV! We kept things simple and real! When we saw a problem we got stuck in and fixed it mostly without real tools or specialist techniques, you tube instructional videos and dare I say it consultants. What has changed? I suggest that we have paralysed people with choices! Too many tools, processes, templates and formats to choose from wastes time and energy and strikes fear into willing people who can’t decide which one is best. I offer this advice. There are only 3 steps: Firstly, understand the problem intimately, secondly, ask Why to get to the root cause(s) and lastly develop a suitable solution and test it! If the problem goes away then awesome! If it’s still there keep going. Mastery of Problem solving is both simple and fundamental for two reasons:
1. Anyone can learn it
2. Most business issues can be boiled down to being a problem or gap.
Leaders simply need to help their staff by providing the necessary time and space to work through the steps and with even a rudimentary understanding of tools, most problems will get solved and staff will feel the benefits of having accomplished and important task and be spurred on to do more of the same!
Remember:
Do not become distracted by other issues until this one is resolved.
Do not try to hand it over to some other poor soul who will inevitably have to start from the beginning and finally
Do not ignore it or sweep it under the carpet…… you’ve already invested a lot of time and effort so why throw it all away!
